PARIS (AP) — She says her life is a lot calmer since she married fashionista-rapper Kanye West. And she prefers to stay at home with her baby.

But calm did not prevail Wednesday when Kim Kardashian, in a whistle-stop 24-hour visit to Paris, faced the incandescent lights of Valentino's couture show in a plunging ice blue gown that caused photographers to trip over themselves.

Away from the limelight, Emma Watson, demure in a black lace gown, quietly slipped in at the last minute.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli produced a strong 61-piece collection in which they showed off the natural beauty of crepe silk, sheer tulle and marbled wool in draped or column silhouettes.

Often creations were cinched under the bust thanks to leather bandings in red, white and black, giving the models the illusion of goddess-like leg length.

Elsewhere, details normally seen on Greco-Roman vases, like flowers or olive leaves, were printed on garments.

But the show hit its highest point when the designers let the sumptuous couture-standard fabrics do the talking — with devastating simplicity.

The piece de resistance? A look that Gaultier called "Maleficent." A model with an exaggeratedly long jaw-line, black bustier with mink bands and dark crepe pants held out a mirror in which she stared, pouted and cackled.

The catwalk models included Conchita Wurst, the bearded drag queen who won this year's Eurovision song contest.

"Gaultier was always about transgender sexuality, about high and low," he said. Referring to Wurst, he added: "So for him to be having his show crowned by the grand dame of drag queen or transsexual expression is appropriate."

Luhrmann said there has been a backlash against gay rights around the world, especially in France and several US states, partly triggered by the legalization of gay marriage. But the 51-year-old said that this shows gay rights are advancing.

"What you see is a sort of reaction against how successful it's been," he said.

GAULTIER'S COUTURE IS PROFITABLE

Haute couture is expensive to make, and for decades it has been known to eat up more money than it reaps for Parisian fashion houses. It's traditionally been used as a kind of advertisement, to raise the house profile and attract customers to the lucrative lines such as perfume and ready-to-wear.

But times are changing.

Gaultier says his haute couture is actually profitable — and healthily in the black.

It's perhaps a result of the recent renaissance of haute couture, after years of critics sounding its death knell.

"I can say 'Yes.' It is profitable. I love it as we have more and more clients. I am proud to be a designer of couture," said the designer, who publicly champions his main clients, such as socialite Mouna Ayoub, by placing them in the front row of his show.

He says the secret of his success is to make wearable clothes, but to not compromise on the couture craftsmanship.

"Do couture truly as couture," he said.

ELIE SAAB'S WINTER PALACE

Myriad baroque chandeliers lit up as Elie Saab transformed his runway into a winter palace.

And it was, indeed, a dreamt-up Parisian palace that inspired the shimmer-rich collection, according to the Lebanese couturier.

Jewel-toned colors of crimson, glacial blue, midnight indigo, white and sultry black were designed to mirror the "prismic reflections" of crystal chandeliers. Floral embroideries on tulle and lace were taken from the scrolling patterns of stately murals.

The palace theme, however, was essentially a pretext for the master of va-va-voom to carry on his infinitesimal variations on the popular embellished gowns he produces season upon season.

As ever, there were the cinched-waist column dresses, or the pearly embellished full-skirts that sparkled in the light.

Saab is one of the main go-to designers for rich fashion-conscious brides hunting for a gown, and Wednesday's collection demonstrates why. Though it packed no surprises — far from it — everything is constructed to the ultimate finesse.

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

With models' faces masked or netted, Maison Martin Margiela's deconstructed show played with unfinished fashion designs.

Asiatic-style decorative gowns were cut away asymmetrically in the leg, as if the model had put on the dress before it was finished.

Elsewhere, a mish-mash patchwork of fabrics resembled the test samples designers use before they purchase fabric.

Dangling cords on blue and red dresses formed a lobster, meanwhile, sending up the Elsa Schaparelli look that Lady Gaga reinterpreted in 2010.